Education: The MH Focus

We may think primary school is the most basic level of education, yet 1 in 5 children will never make it even to that. This means over 121 million children will never be enrolled in school- that is over twice the population of the UK filled with unschooled children. Providing education to reverse this trend is at the heart of Muslim Hands' work.

For 15 years, we have invested in education

Today we run over 300 Rural Schools, 55 Model Schools and 7 Schools of Excellence with 23,000 children who are currently studying alhamdulillah. This year alone, we have spent £5.2 million on education projects- more than any other area of our work. Our future plans include the drive to build primary schools across Africa and help bring further literacy to the most deprived continent in the world.

Many of our schools are attended by orphans who are sponsored by Muslim Hands. These children are given an education, uniform, school supplies, regular medical checkups and when they need it, a school bus to take them to and from class.

Schooling from every angle

We believe education is a doorway out of poverty. It can mean different things for different communities and so we provide access to education from a number of different angles.

Rural Community Schools

Children gather around Balochistan school

Sometimes accessing a school can be harder than covering the cost of school fees. There are many isolated and scattered villages with children who require an education though no accessible school exists. MH Rural Community Schools serve children who live in areas like this and are typically located in rural areas and sometimes may only contain one or two classrooms. Most often, these schools are the children's only chance of getting an education.

Rural community schools are about providing basic access to school and we have already piloted this in Balochistan as one of the poorest parts of the rural world. Due to the success of these, further schools have been built all over Pakistan with the World Bank recognising and supporting our ability to penetrate into areas which were previously inaccessible. Together, we plan to expand this on a much greater scale in another area with a similar evel of poverty and lack of access to education: sub Saharan Africa.

Model Schools

Primary school children at our model school in China

Where access to schools may exist, it is common to come across unprofessionally run and extremely under-resourced facilities which cause many children's education to suffer. Model schools run in areas where school conditions may be poor, class sizes too large and facilities limited. They work to improve and provide better quality education than what is around.

Students who attend Model Schools benefit from having teachers who have been given special teacher training and ongoing professional development. Primarily serving orphans, our Model Schools are also attended by a small portion of local fee-paying children who recognise the higher quality of education which students benefit from. These fee-paying students in turn help subsidise some of the cost in providing education for the neediest orphans.

Schools of Excellence

Muslim Hands run pioneering 'Schools of Excellence' as an investment into the quality and delivery of education for poor and orphan students. These schools serve orphans and poorer children free-of-charge with a tailor-made curriculum from our in-house educationalists as well as a uniform and school materials. Where students live far, a school bus is provided to ensure children can make their way to and from school on time and with ease.

All the schools are custom built so benefit from science laboratories, recreation facilities, auditoriums and purpose-built facilities. To deliver dynamic and engaging lessons, MH sifts out and trains the very best of new teaching talent to raise the aspirations and morale of students. Local fee-paying children also attend these schools as the teaching standards usually far exceed that of local school.

Schools of Excellence also act as 'beacon schools' and raise educational standard for neighbouring schools drastically increases as these best practices spread across our schools and are delivered to model, private and local schools also. Schools of Excellence have been built in Sudan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Niger, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Mali, Sri Lanka and Gambia.